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REDEADS: LEGEND OF ZELDA

The ReDeads are without a doubt the creepiest thing ever put forward by a Zelda game. Tall and skinny in most appearances, the worst is Ocarina of Time where they are made of what looks like an extremely skinny man with a clay mask with it’s mouth forced open. Their always horrible screams (again, Ocarina is worst: Link Here) stun, allowing them to jump on you and squeeze you to death – while if you kill one of them the group will all huddle around the body and cry until it despawns.

ASH ZOMBIES: MORROWIND

Created by the Sixth House of Morrowind to do their bidding, these monsters are what appears to be dark elves with their faces and brains ripped out, leaving just a black and bloody hole. While not the most dangerous, these things are horrible for two main reasons: their moans (Link Here), and their tendency to attack you while you sleep. Get the Bloodmoon expansion and you are regularly woken up by Dark Brotherhood attacks, but when the screen fades in with these it’s even creepier.

HEAD CREATURES: VAMPIRE:THE MASQURADE – BLOODLINES

A lot of the creatures in this brilliant RPG are weird and gruesome, but for some reason these Geodude rejects are what get to me. They crawl on two hands, they jump and they’re frustrating to get a hit on, there’s just something about them that creep me out immensely – especially in the snuff video quest.

BANSHEES: MASS EFFECT 3

Created from Reaper tech and Ardat-Yakshi (pure-breed Asari), Banshees are late-game enemies that more than deserve the hate and fear they get. Appearing as floating dead bodies with metallic stalks coming out of them, the oddest thing about their design is they look pregnant – Ardat-Yakshi are sterile. Hearing a Banshee scream (Link: Here) is bad enough at any difficulty level, but playing on insane could mean instant death if you’re not quick and stocked up on medi-gel.

FAST ZOMBIES: HALF-LIFE 2

I have no problem with regular head-crab zombies in HL:2, but these things freak me out so much I had to put the game down for a year. Paired down to muscle and bone, these zombies are quick and totally surround you in Ravenholm, all while sounding like a bad hybrid of a rabid gorilla and Tie-Fighter (Link: Here)

FRIGHT NIGHT (1985)

Directed in 1985 by Tom Holland, the original FRIGHT NIGHT is almost totally different from the remake. The characters are a lot better in this, with Chris Sarandon as a much better brooding and subtle vampire than Colin Farrel’s plain guy who happens to be a vampire. Evil Ed is also incredible, a brilliant turn by Stephen Geoffreys and fantastic special effects that more than hold up today make him one of my favourite things in anything EVER.

Original vs. Remake: The original is more sexual, has better music and atmosphere, and is overall vastly superior in nearly every way, except for David Tennant’s Peter Vincent and the insanity of the final fight. While the remake is entertaining enough, the original might be my favourite vampire movie ever.

Winner: Original.

DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978)

Directed in 1978 by horror legend George A. Romero, this spawned it all, from Dead Rising to The Walking Dead. The thing I noticed while watching this was that while it’s undoubtedly a classic and fantastic film, it’s not so much a zombie horror as much as a plain survival movie. You could replace the zombies with most anything and it would be the same movie, even a bit more tense because the zombies weren’t that dangerous.

Original vs. Remake: Overall, I think for the intents of a Halloween movie the remake is better. The original is very philosophical about killing zombies and more meta in people losing their minds – what The Walking Dead TV show should be – but in the remake it’s all the most tense and horror-like parts shoved together with an hour of exposition shaved off. Because of the better characters, more stressful scenes and the danger of the zombies, the remake takes it.

I chose to launch this blog on the lead up to Halloween because as long as I remember it’s been my favourite time of year, and the best films come from it as opposed to Christmas. Day One is THE REMAKES – remakes of classic horror films I haven’t seen the originals of, so by rewatching the remakes before the originals I give them a fair chance.

FRIGHT NIGHT (2011)

Up first is FRIGHT NIGHT, a Craig Gillespie remake of the 1985 vampire film. Way back in 2011 we saw this at Moviefest (RIP) and I can remember really enjoying it. It has Colin Farrell as a badass vampire with a bad accent hunting the main character, and David Tennant at his best as Peter Vincent magician and vampire lore master – a rip of real magician Criss Angel. Entertaining, cheesy and sometimes funny, the only let down is the AWFUL 3D CGI blood and gore that has NOT aged well and ruins some great scenes; but if you can get past that it’s well worth a watch.

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Next is Zack Snyder and James Gunn’s remake of zombie master George A. Romero’s 1978 film. After an over-night zombie apocalypse, a group of survivors lock themselves in a shopping mall to keep safe from the things and to figure out how they’re going to escape to safety. Great characters, incredibly stressful scenes and blood and gore that still look good make this a fantastic remake – exactly how they should be done. Just make sure to stay for the credits, the film continues through them.

You lucky (or unlucky, depending on perspective) so-and-so’s have arrived at the much, much procrastinated Diehard Dublin! After much poking, prodding and outright punching, I have finally unleashed this beast upon the interworld on my favourite week of all weeks, Halloween! What follows will be a haphazard mess of gaming, male grooming and everything to do with me and my early 20’s interests.

I’m most well known for my work as movie writer over at CherrySue, so to get an idea of the life-changing content I’ll be shoving in your eyeballs, you can check out the Movies tab, or have a look every friday at 8:00am UTC!

Thank you ever so much for checking in, and I hope to keep you around forever and ever and ever ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)